Sarah Istel's investing focus grew out of years working at the intersection of technology and national security inside U.S. intelligence institutions, including serving as Deputy General Counsel and Bio & Energy Tech Lead for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence before joining Cerberus in 2025. That background lines up closely with her current focus on energy, biotech, and maritime technology, and public comments about her work point to an interest in hard-tech, systems-level projects that matter for national security rather than typical software startups.